clinton

Clinton’s book is out, and reaction is what you’d expect. Conservatives are frothing at the mouth with all the same deranged theories. The shallow, lazy national media is obsessed with his penis and reacts with offense to the fact that large parts of his book are about policy.

But remember a few things: Clinton was a more popular president than Reagan. He had a higher average approval rating, a higher average second-term approval rating — and he left office with a higher approval rating, despite 8 years of concentrated, well-funded attempts to drag him down. The American people loved Clinton, because he was sensible and effective.

Also, read this piece in the L.A. Times. It makes another point that gets overlooked in penis discussions: while Reagan, Bush, and Clinton all presided over economic recoveries, only in Clinton’s did the benefits of recovery go to the lower and middle classes as well as the upper class. Through deliberate policy choices, Clinton created economic growth that was fairly shared. The right doesn’t want you to know that — they want you to think that’s impossible. They’d rather you think about Clinton’s penis like they do.

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It’s more than just a little bit disingenuous to claim that Reagan’s policies didn’t benefit the poor.

Which Bush presided over economic recovery? If it was Bush 1, then I heard a lot about “recession” for nothing.

Moreover, a fair amount of the “Clinton economic boom” had to do with welfare reform, which was extraordinarily effective, and which Clinton rejected three times. Also, the false internet boom had a lot to do with Clinton’s economic success.

The Times article, like many LA Times articles is incredibly partisan.